Isaiah 40:31,
"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they
shall mount up
with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not
faint."

Welive in a world where the word "wait" generates great
exasperation, annoyance and frustration. With the fast paced world of skills, knowledge,
scientific breakthroughs, as well as the abundance of 'things' we enjoy today, we expect that whatever it is that we need, we
must have and should have it right now.

But if we really think about it, life is a life of waiting; waiting in line at the market, at the
airport, in the doctor's office,
waiting for the mail to be delivered, waiting for someone to love,
for a check to come, or waiting for a job....a thousand different ways of waiting. Like impatient children, we expect the wait period
should be
minimal. And so, when we pray, we fervently hope that our answers will come
quickly and
without
delay.

Webster's
Dictionary defines waiting as
"staying or
remaining in a state of
repose until
something
expected
happens,
or to be in readiness."
The bible is full of passages telling us we must wait on
the Lord.
So when we pray, we are in a state of expectation. But some of us place a time
limit for the answers to our prayers when we face a
problem that we cannot solve ourselves. And when our answers don't come swiftly, we sometimes become discouraged and even rethink
our faith. Our mind tells us, "If I believe in Him and trust,
shouldn't I depend on Him to carry me through my sadness, my pain,
my needs, or whatever it is I am facing?" Thrown
into the mix of our needs is our adversity, Satan, who stealthily whispers to us that we
wait in vain. How do we silence these uncertainties?

Thefirst thing to keep foremost in our minds is that our
human timing is not in sync with God's divine timing. This does not
mean God is not listening or that He does not care. He has a plan
and an answer for each person and He will fulfill it according to
His own timetable, if it is His will and is best for us. We
cannot know what plans He has for us. We do not have His wisdom.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 tells us, "Therefore we do not lose heart,
but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being
renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for
us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we
look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are
not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things
which are not seen are eternal."

VasilyDrosdov Philaret (1780 - 1867) a Russian prelate, author, and
preacher, has this to say on this subject, " I do not know what to ask
You. You alone know my real needs, and You love me more than I even know how to
love. Enable me to discern my true needs which are hidden from me.
I ask for neither cross nor consolation; I wait in patience for You. My heart
is open to You. For Your great mercy's sake, come to me and help me. Put
your mark on me and heal me, cast me down and raise me up. Silently I adore Your
holy will and Your inscrutable ways. I offer myself in sacrifice to You
and put all my trust in You. I desire only to do Your will. Teach me how to
pray and pray in me, Yourself." (Vasily
Drosdov Philaret became archbishop of Tver and a member of the holy synod in 1819 and
metropolitan of Moscow in 1826. He long urged the abolition of serfdom and is generally
considered the author of the Edict of Emancipation promulgated by Alexander 11 in
1861. Philaret also wrote a standard catechism of the Russian Orthodox Church.)

Waiting means patience and a recognition of God's power and with this comes
confidence and hope. We anticipate God's answer to us, even though we do not
know how or what that good will be. We think something positive is
about to happen. Like a child waiting for a parent to unwrap a
gift for them, we wait earnestly for the Lord to come through
with an answer for our concerns. But, sometimes He says "No" to us,
and we think He has not heard our plea for help. Later down the road we see and
thank God for saying "No" for it is then we understand with clarity that
the thing we begged for was wrong and even detrimental to us.

PaulJ. Bucknell in his article "Waiting
on God Not Man", has this to say
about being patient and letting God handle our trials: "Waiting
for the Lord is not easy. Our heart is often crying out in agony. We feel oppressed and
constrained. We yearn for freedom and provision. Waiting upon the Lord for needed supplies
is one common area in which He trains us. We have to be needy so that we are forced to
look to the Lord for help. Our other resources are stripped away. Someone yesterday said
to me, 'But I don't like what the Lord is bringing me through.' How true this is. We
squirm, squiggle and squeak." Continuing further, he tells, .... "We need
to wait on God for a spouse, for a job, for healing, for wisdom, for ministry, etc. We
might say that it is Satan tempting us, and in some cases he is, but at the same time it
is God who is testing (proving) us. He is bringing us a step closer to
Himself."

Here is a story that illustrates this point: "The only
survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He began to
pray loudly for rescue. Day after day, he searched for food under the boiling
sun. He kept crying out "I am waiting
patiently, Lord, for an answer from You. I am faithful and I know You love me.
It has been a long, long time. How long must I wait?"

Every day he scanned the
horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. But he kept praying. Exhausted,
he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the
elements, and to store his few possessions. All day and before
going to sleep in his
little hut, he murmured feverishly for God to rescue him, but it seemed God was not
going to help.

"I guess I am on my
own", he thought. His hope began to fade with each passing day. His
faith grew weak and he felt the One he counted on had let him down.
Then
one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the
smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was
stunned with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me! Why?" he
cried, falling to the ground in intense grief, the few things he had gathered
for a sparse meal scattering
away from him. He fell onto the rocky ground and fell asleep with tears rolling down
his tattered shirt.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened
by the sound of a ship approaching the island. At first he thought he was
surely dreaming. "This can't be true", he told himself as his heart gave a
great leap of hope. But this was real, someone was coming!
Someone was coming to rescue him at last! "Over
here", he shouted, waving his hands in happiness. "How did you know I was
here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke
signal," they replied.

Waiting
takes discipline. Waiting means hope, a period of anticipation that
God in His divine mercy will come through for us in ways we cannot
see, so remain fast and keep praying for His mercy and guidance.
Don't let your faith weaken as time goes by. Be patient and keep
your courage as there may be no swift answers. This is what God
requires of us. As earthly beings, we don't have all the answers and
God does not promise this life will be perfect. There will be snags
that come which will try to destroy the soul, problems that make us
stagger in indecision. Christians who are weak in faith may lose
hope as we see our lack of money to pay our bills, perhaps our
children are in trouble, family members in ill health, and all the
uncertainties that life throws our way. What we know is that our
Lord asks us to wait on Him in trust, and if it is right for us, He
will fulfill our needs. Rely on Him to give you courage, strength,
and fortitude to overcome whatever it is that troubles your soul.

C.S.Lewis
wrote, To trust Him means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be
no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have
really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But
trying in a new way, a less worried way.

Does this mean we
pray God will fulfill our needs while we sit on our hands in despair?
Absolutely not. We ask the Lord for His wisdom, we ask God to make known, through
the Holy Spirit, the paths we must take to overturn our
pitfalls. Psalms 25:5
says, "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of
my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day." With His guidance and enlightenment
we must keep moving forward for "The Lord is good to
those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him." - Lamentations 3:25. During this time we learn to be strong, letting God come through with a lesson that will strengthen us.

Praying to God
about our burdens does not guarantee we will see the
outcome we asked for, but our waiting will pull us closer to
Him. Whatever He does bless us with will be greater than
we asked for. If God says no, we must defer to His
infinite judgment, realizing that He knows what is best
for us. He asks that we trust in His mercy and
His love through our needs and our fears, being
confident that He will make a way for us through His
immeasurable wisdom in His own time.

Wait patiently for the
Lord. Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. -
Psalms 27:14

Please
use the link at the top left side of this page to comment or be added to the mailing list.